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I just blogged this in Poynter’s E-Media Tidbits, but it’s worth a mention here too.

Longtime CONTENTIOUS readers may recall that last year I had a few things to say regarding a fake TV news story (otherwise known as a video news release, or VNR) produced by the US Dept. of Health and Human Services to covertly promote the Bush Administration’s controversial Medicare plan.

Well, it looks like the Bush Administration’s infatuation with VNRs is still going stronger than ever…

On March 13, a New York Times investigative feature revealed that “at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years.”

Apparently, the strongly worded warnings against this practice issued by Government Accountability Office (GAO) Comptroller David Walker in May 2004 and again in February 2005 weren’t as compelling to federal agencies as the siren song of covert propaganda.

UNCLE SAM: COMING TO A BLOG NEAR YOU?

I don’t lean toward conspiracy theories. Still, I can’t help but wonder: Given that the US federal government has paid a commentator to shill administration policies, and has created fake TV news stories (some of which were aired without identification by irresponsible stations), what’s the Bush Administration’s covert propaganda strategy for online media?

I’d be amazed if they didn’t have one, especially involving weblogs – either in terms of blog postings or blog comments. I’d also be amazed if their online media propaganda strategy wasn’t already in full swing.

If I were in the Bush Administration (which I’m not – really, folks), I’d have been all over the internet for covert propaganda ages ago. After all, this is where many of today’s most influential US opinion leaders spend a fair amount of time and attention. I’d be trying to influence blogs, discussion forums, online news venues, web sites, live events, you name it! The internet is a skilled propagandist’s gold mine.

Of course, the internet is also an inept or inexperienced propagandist’s nightmare. It’s not really easy to manage public discourse, especially online. It’s too easy to link directly to embarrassing statements or facts. It’s too easy to be tripped up and unmasked. Word spreads unbelievably fast online. Finally, it’s incredibly easy to undermine your own persuasive efforts with overconfidence.

IS KETCHUM ON THE CASE?

The Bush Administration definitely has some skilled propagandists at its disposal. On Feb. 19, the New York Times reported that the PR giant Ketchum “has received $97 million in government public relations contracts since 2001.”

As Ketchum’s own weblog Q&A indicates, blogs are definitely included in PR strategic planning for Ketchum clients. Not surprisingly, Ketchum’s article doesn’t discuss stealth blog tactics, but it’s been done. (See my Dec. 11, 2004 PR and Marketing Grab Bag item: Mazda’s faux blog flops.)

Ketchum’s PR practitioners are not slouches. They are sharp professionals, well aware of the growing and evolving role of online media in public discourse and perception. If there’s an online angle (straightforward or covert) that they could work to a client’s advantage, they’d be all over it. That’s what they get paid the big bucks for.

I’m not trying to cast aspersions on Ketchum in particular. The federal government works with lots of PR agencies. Ketchum just happens to be one of the biggies.

In my E-Media Tidbits item, I asked for mainstream journalists (the target audience of that weblog) to consider investigating possible online angles to the widening federal VNR flap. But honestly, I think bloggers might do as good a job (if not better) of monitoring and reporting this angle. It’s our turf, after all.

Is anyone in mainstream media or the blogosphere already on this? If so, I’d love to hear about it. Stay tuned…